Thursday, August 21, 2008

the red house

Mike, Erin, Tony and I met up for drinks at Noir after work. It's a bar at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge that has outdoor seating, which was perfect for a summer night. Erin talked me into having one of her all-time favorite drinks, a Dirty Harry. It's a martini made with Reyka vodka, blue-cheese stuffed olives, and a splash of dirt. (P.S. I had to ask to, what is "a splash of dirt"? It's olive juice.) I like pretty much all things savory so I thought it was pretty good. I think Tony wanted to hurl at the thought of blue cheese in a drink, but he was still a good sport and took a sip. I also had a glass of the Ste. Michelle pinot grigio wine which was excellent.

We decided to try out the Red House restaurant in Harvard Square for dinner. It's a cute restaurant with a cozy feel to it inside. It was interesting because on one side of their menu, they had a $30 pick-and-choose menu where you could pick three things from four categories. There was one appetizer section, two entree sections (not sure how they were distinguished), and a dessert section to choose from. I went to their website to get the names of the dishes we ordered but they don't post that menu online for some reason. So I'm gonna have to go by memory and more of a list of ingredients rather than the actual dish names to give this review. Here's what everyone had:

Mike had a Caesar salad to start with (forgot to get a photo of it, sorry!), shrimp linguini, and a slice of key lime pie for dessert. He didn't order from the pick and choose menu though.

Erin had two of the same things I had (she has good taste - lol!). We both had a sauteed mushroom and garlic dish as an appetizer. Then we both had a steak entree which was served with more mushrooms, rice, and asparagus. Of course, my asparagus made its way over to Tony's plate. For dessert, she had something with mixed berries on top of. By the looks of the photo I think it was something creamy.

The only difference between hers and mine was that I had a slice of the dark chocolate cake for dessert. Minus the raspberry sauce of course. And the real thing only came with one slice of orange ... this photo was taken after I put my slice onto Tony's plate.

Tony had a mixed green salad with watermelon and pine nuts as an appetizer, a puttanesca pasta dish as an entree, and a slice of dark chocolate cake for dessert.

We had a nice time and the food was delicious. I asked about the pick and choose menu and the waitress said that it is something they always offer (not just because it was Restaurant Week).

about this blog ...

I have always loved to eat, cook and bake, so I was crushed when I found out about my food allergies. Avoiding eating certain things for the sake of staying alive means I can no longer enjoy some of my old favorite dishes. But! That doesn't mean I have to stop making them for the people I love, right? So poo on food allergies (though having knowledge of them - either for yourself or someone you know - is a rather good thing) and I still can cook. Just not necessarily eat what I cook.

I also haven't let my food allergies stop us from going out to enjoy good food at restaurants. Yes, I've got to ask a bunch of questions and inform the wait staff of certain allergies, but restaurants are generally pretty good about dealing with food allergies as long as you let them know.

So enjoy these tried-and-true recipes (but keep in mind that I am no gourmet cook!) and restaurant reviews. Email me if you have any food allergy related stories/advice/recommendations.